Solution to Istanbul’s parking predicament: Floating car parks

ISTANBUL - Doğan News Agency

DHA Photo

The Istanbul Municipality is preparing to introduce its solution to the quagmire of constantly full multistory car parks, one of the city's increasingly problematic issues.

The parking authority, İSPARK, yesterday said it would transform inactive city ferries to floating multistory car parks that will be anchored near the city’s hot traffic spots whenever the need for extra parking spaces emerges.

The project will be launched with the first floating multistory car parks to be docked between Marmaray (Istanbul’s newly-opened railway located 62 meters under the Bosphorus Strait, connecting Istanbul’s European and Asian sides) stations of Üsküdar and Kadıköy, as well as between Kazlıçeşme and Harem.

The ferry car parks are planned to be operational 24 hours, will have a capacity of nearly 400 cars, and provide a range of facilities such as cafeterias and art galleries, İSPARK has said.

Similar parking projects have also graced Japan and Canada.